Using Peer Review/Peer Review/Incorporation Peer Review into Your Class

Incorporating Peer Review into Your Class

Some of the greater concerns about incorporating peer review into a science class are highlighted below (Table 1), but you can employ the strategies matched with these to negate or offset them.

Table 1: Best Practice Strategies to Deal with Specific Peer Review Implementation Concerns

Concern/Issue – How to…	Associated Best Practice Strategy
Organize the distribution of student work to peers	Consider using a software system Ensure friends/group members receive work from other individuals/groups
Communicate instructions and feedback	Consider running a practice session first [see our guide and materials here] Provide guidelines with sample language Provide a rubric or detailed list of tasks
Motivate students to take the task seriously	Provide an incentive (small initially, rising in value with experience) as part of a grade Provide a bigger incentive for a second draft of work (after peer review)
Motivate students to incorporate peer feedback into their edits
Decide whether reviews should be anonymous	Judge the dynamic of your class In most cases, face-to-face interviews can clarify confusion and do not cause problems